While it is true that many hospitals have been restored, Serbs cannot
seek treatment in them; numerous roads have been paved but Serbs lack
the freedom to travel on them; tens of thousands of houses have been
renovated but only about one hundred of them are owned by Serbs. After
the war, all mosques were repaired and many new ones built while over
one hundred Serbian churches still lie in ruins and not one has been
reconstructed; there are many new supermarkets, gas stations and
restaurants but what use are they to Serbs when only Albanians and
foreigners can safely enter them? In short, based on his first-hand
experience, the average Serb feels that UNMIK has come to help only one
community while Serbs appear fated to live as second-class citizens on
the margins of society, said Bishop Artemije
during his lecture on Thursday in Washington, D.C.

Thus, giving
these respected European awards to Ibrahim Rugova, who has done nothing
to deserve them, can only be interpreted as a "political transfusion"
given by the West to a man and a political party who are losing their
support among Kosovo Albanians for their inertness and corruption, while
the influence of political parties stemming from the terrorist KLA
grows. Since this is an election year in Kosovo, Western leaders are
apparently seeking to revamp the image of Ibrahim Rugova in order to
discourage Kosovo Albanians from voting for the political parties of
Ramush Haradinaj and Hashim Thaci.

The UN and KFOR peace mission
has not done enough to prevent suffering of innocent civilians after the
armed conflict in 1999. Since the arrival of KFOR Kosovo Serbs live in
ghetto like surrounding. Only one third of the pre-war Serb population
has remained in the Province and they live a life below every dignity.
The main obstacle for the return of expelled Serbs is the systematic
rule of ethnic discrimination and violence which is continuing from one
year to another. As a Bishop I find it particularly disheartening that
since the arrival of the peace mission 112 Serbian Orthodox churches
have been destroyed or desecrated. The perpetrators of these crimes and
many murders and kidnappings have not been found by the police nor
brought to justice yet, said Bishop Artemije

Bishop
Artemije of Raska-Prizren and Kosovo-Metohija, who is presently on a
working visit to the U.S. with his associates, gave a lecture on
Thursday, January 29 at the Western Policy Center in Washington, D.C. on
the topic of Multiethnic Kosovo - Diplomatic Dream or Balkan
Reality. The lecture was jointly organized by the Western
Policy Center and the Serbian Unity Congress in the U.S. in order to
inform the U.S. public regarding the present situation in Kosovo and
Metohija and possible solutions for the crisis in the future.

At the very
beginning of the lecture, John Sitilides, the executive director of the
Western Policy Center, introduced Bishop Artemije to the audien

ce as
"the first in the Serbian Orthodox Church
to denounce the tactics of the Milosevic regime" and
that His Grace has provided hope to the Serbian and other remaining
ethnic populations of Kosovo. He added that during the course of his stay in the U.S., the
Bishop would meet with senior representatives of the State Department,
congressmen and directors of renowned institutes.

In his
presentation, Bishop Artemije pointed out the catastrophic state of
human rights for the Serb and other non-Albanian people in Kosovo and
Metohija, emphasizing that to the present day, the situation for the
Serbs has not essentially improved:

"It would be unfair to say that there have been no
improvements at all in Kosovo since the war. But it is also disturbing
that these improvements, including primarily the return of war-time
refugees, reconstruction of war-damaged facilities and the building of
institutions, have almost exclusively impacted the Kosovo Albanian
community. Kosovo Serbs have almost no concrete benefit from these
"improvement" nor they are of any use for them to resolve their burning
issues of normal and free life.

While it is true that many hospitals have been restored, Serbs cannot
seek treatment in them; numerous roads have been paved but Serbs lack
the freedom to travel on them; tens of thousands of houses have been
renovated but only about one hundred of them are owned by Serbs. After
the war, all mosques were repaired and many new ones built while over
one hundred Serbian churches still lie in ruins and not one has been
reconstructed; there are many new supermarkets, gas stations and
restaurants but what use are they to Serbs when only Albanians and
foreigners can safely enter them? In short, based on his first-hand
experience, the average Serb feels that UNMIK has come to help only one
community while Serbs appear fated to live as second-class citizens on
the margins of society", explained Bishop Artemije.

Responding concretely to a question regarding the accomplishments of the
peacekeeping mission and the human rights situation, Bishop Artemije
emphasized that

"the UN and KFOR peace mission has not done enough to prevent suffering
of innocent civilians after the armed conflict in 1999. Since the
arrival of KFOR Kosovo Serbs live in ghetto like surrounding. Only one
third of the pre-war Serb population has remained in the Province and
they live a life below every dignity. The main obstacle for the return
of expelled Serbs is the systematic rule of ethnic discrimination and
violence which is continuing from one year to another. As a Bishop I
find it particularly disheartening that since the arrival of the peace
mission 112 Serbian Orthodox churches have been destroyed or desecrated.
The perpetrators of these crimes and many murders and kidnappings have
not been found by the police nor brought to justice yet"

Commenting on the new
"Standards for Kosovo", Bishop Artemije emphasized that the Serb
community is dissatisfied with this plan because the Serbs were not
consulted in defining the standards and the methods for realizing them.
"The way they were developed negates the UN SC
Res. 1244 because with these new standards, Kosovo severs ties with
Serbia and Montenegro. The methods of evaluation and implementation of
the standards have not been defined which allows manipulations",
noted Bishop Artemije.

The optimal solution for Kosovo and
Metohija is substantial autonomywithin the Republic of Serbia and
the state union of Serbia-Montenegro,said Bishop Artemije at the
Western Policy Center on January 29

Kosovo independence
would destabilize entire region

"Although many Kosovo Serbs are aware that direct administrative
rule by Belgrade is not an appropriate model at present or in the
future, they nevertheless strongly oppose the independence of
Kosovo. They know from their experience that in such an
Albanian-dominated state there would be no place for non-Albanian
communities.

An independent Kosovo would set a dangerous precedent which would
destabilize not only the Balkans and its fragile peace but also
other countries with similar problems. Instead, Kosovo Albanian
leaders should understand that an ethnic group does not have to be
independent in its own nation-state, to have control over its own
fate."

In his presentation Bishop
Artemije discussed three possible future scenarios: 1) Kosovo
independence, 2) return to the pre-1999 situation, and 3) realizing the
substantial autonomy of Kosovo and Metohija within the Republic of
Serbia and the state union of Serbia-Montenegro.

While the first
two scenarios would "almost surely lead to war and
continuation of suffering for the civilian population of all ethnic
groups", the Bishop expressed support for the third alternative,
ending his lecture with an analysis of the principle of asymmetric
autonomy in Kosovo and Metohija providing different levels of ties
between institutions of self-government

and Belgrade for
Serbian (Bosnian/Croat) and Albanian linguistic regions.

"These self-governing institutions in Serb speaking areas should have
special relations with the Belgrade government agencies, especially in
the domains of education, health, and protection of cultural and
historical monuments. At the same time, the Albanian speaking community
would enjoy a greater degree of self-rule and could have only those ties
with Serbia and S-M Union which would be mutually agreed upon through
free dialogue. Local Kosovo institutions on the Kosovo wide level would
be multiethnic and would coordinate activities between two autonomous
entities. They would primarily work on resolving the local problems
concerning the common interest of all Kosovo’s inhabitants and would not
act as para-state structures, as they do now. Of course, as an
autonomous province Kosovo would be able to have representation in both
Serbian and State union institutions. The increased presence of minority
representatives in the Parliament of Serbia would only further
facilitate strengthening of multiethnicity in the country which despite
the recent wars still remains the most multiethnic state on the
territory of former Yugoslavia and the region",
explained Bishop Artemije. He concluded

"Such a
settlement of Kosovo’s status would not set a negative precedent for
other ethnic communities throughout Europe which might try to exercise
their right of self-determination to the detriment of sovereignty of
their states. The firm position would be promoted that the only way out
from the Balkan quagmire is not in further atomization of the Balkans
and creation of unstable, ethnically and religiously pure banana
republics but in economically and politically stable multiethnic
countries which will be able to follow the process of EU integration."

The lecture at the Western
Policy Center was attended by representatives of eminent government
institutes and agencies, the State Department, the Department of
Defense, several diplomatic representatives in Washington, as well as
journalists.

On Friday, January 30, Bishop
Artemije is scheduled to meet with Kathy Stevens, the assistant to
Secretary of State Colin Powell for southeast European issues. Bishop
Artemije will then present his views of Kosovo problems and propose
corresponding solutions at a roundtable including a group of State
Department experts for issues relating to the Balkans, Serbia and
Kosovo.

At the beginning of next
week, several important meetings in the U.S. Congress are planned, as
well as a visit to the Security Council in New York, and Serbian
communities in Cleveland and Chicago.

A false peacemaker rewardedPeacemaking does not
mean passivity and silence but active engagement for the rights of
those in danger and for basic democratic principles of freedomfor
all citizens. Mr. Rugova has always been more a symbol of passivity than
an example
of political responsibilty and political leadership.

Thus, giving
these respected European awards to Ibrahim Rugova, who has done nothing
to deserve them, can only be interpreted as a "political transfusion"
given by the West to a man and a political party who are losing their
support among Kosovo Albanians for their inertness and corruption, while
the influence of political parties stemming from the terrorist KLA
grows. Since this is an election year in Kosovo, Western leaders are
apparently seeking to revamp the image of Ibrahim Rugova in order to
discourage Kosovo Albanians from voting for the political parties of
Ramush Haradinaj and Hashim Thaci.

The Diocese of
Raska and Prizren expresses its shock upon receiving news from the
Kosovo Information Center that the Council of Europe is to proclaim
so-called Kosovo president Ibrahim Rugova an honorary European senator.
Even greater surprise resulted from the decision to award Mr. Rugova the
Andrei Sakharov award for "freedom of thought".

By giving these
respected European recognitions to a a man who in the past more than
four years since the end of the armed conflict has done absolutely
nothing to protect the rights of jeopardized citizens in Kosovo and
Metohija is a true irony considering the reality in the Province.
Ibrahim Rugova's unearned title of "peacemaker" in the world appears to
stem primarily from his passivity, not from his active engagement for
the rights of the endangered and dispossessed. Despite his recognition
of "freedom of thought", he has not uttered a single word of
condemnation against countless post-war crimes perpetrated by Albanians
against Serbs, Roma, Bosniacs and other non-Albanian communities. What
is more, thanks to his open political support, local officials of his
political party, the Democratic Alliance of Kosovo (DSK), not
infrequently demonstrate even greater nationalism and extremism than
members of other political parties, for example, often blocking the
return of expelled Serbs (recently in Klina and Pec).

Thus, giving
these respected European awards to Ibrahim Rugova, who has done nothing
to deserve them, can only be interpreted as a "political transfusion"
given by the West to a man and a political party who are losing their
support among Kosovo Albanians for their inertness and corruption, while
the influence of political parties stemming from the terrorist KLA
grows. Since this is an election year in Kosovo, Western leaders are
apparently seeking to revamp the image of Ibrahim Rugova in order to
discourage Kosovo Albanians from voting for the political parties of
Ramush Haradinaj and Hashim Thaci.

ERP KIM Info-Service is
the official Information Service of the Serbian Orthodox Diocese of Raska
and Prizren and works with the blessing of His Grace Bishop
Artemije.Our Information Service is
distributing news on Kosovo related issues. The main focus of the
Info-Service is the life of the Serbian Orthodox Church and the Serbian
community in the Province of Kosovo and Metohija. ERP KIM Info Service
works in cooperation with www.serbian-translation.com
as well as the Kosovo Daily
News (KDN) News List

Disclaimer:The views
expressed by the authors of newspaper articles or other texts which are
not official communiqués or news reports by the Diocese are their own and
do not necessarily represent the views of the Serbian Orthodox
Church

Additional information on
our Diocese and the life of the Kosovo Serb Community may be found at:http://www.kosovo.netCopyright 2004, ERP KIM Info-Service